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Old 06-09-2005, 05:52 AM   #22
mazmonsters
Dojo: independant
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 24
United_States
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Re: aikido and sword principles

I think this is why Aikido has such a bad reputation with a lot of ignorant observers. If you do not connect kenjutsu and aikido mentally, then you can never truly understand technique. Shiho nage came from sword movement, as did sankyo, nikkyo, ikkyo, and the angles of everything is directly from the movement of a swordsman...a samurai. What O-Sensei did was take the beligerency out of the techniques and found a harmonizing way of reconciliation by blending with and controlling the opponent, instead of destroying him. If you are not"cutting" with your technique, there will usually be a way for uke to escape...and by the way, it helps a great deal to practice with bokken...not doing kata, but practicing doing technique in a randori fashion with bokken..everyone using a bokken. This is how I came to understand the similarities so well.
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